


Broken Pieces

by IveGotRedHair



Category: All Time Low
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-17
Updated: 2015-09-17
Packaged: 2018-04-21 05:51:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4817501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IveGotRedHair/pseuds/IveGotRedHair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Alex's first date doesn't go plan when Alex ends up in the ER.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Pieces

Jack was so excited about going on his date, he was practically jumping up and down. He’d been trying to work up the courage to ask the boy behind the counter in the coffee out for weeks. He’d gone in every day and see him standing there, all beautiful smile and kind eyes. Now the time was nearly up as he stared at the clock waiting for time to pass.   
“Jack if you don’t stop bouncing around you’re going to tire yourself out, then what will you do later?” Rian teased.   
“Shut up Ri.”   
“What time are you meeting this guy anyway?” Rian asked.   
“Alex, he’s called Alex and I’m meeting him at seven at that nice Italian on the marina,” Jack said.   
“Oh very fancy! Are you going back to his place or should I be out?”   
“Rian! It’s our first date, stop assuming I just want to fuck him,” Jack grumbled.   
“Isn’t that you normally do?” the boy asked.   
“This is different, he’s different.”   
“Oh shit, has Jack actually got feelings? Did I fall into an alternative universe?”   
Jack shoved Rian hard enough he almost fell off the couch.   
“Alright, alright. I’m going out as some of us don’t have the luxury of someone else buying dinner, I’ll see you later.”   
Rian grabbed his jacket and keys before leaving their apartment. Jack sighed and leant back against the couch, the truth about why he was jumpy was he was nervous. He’d wanted to go out with Alex for so long now that it was actually happening, he was full of butterflies and kind of wanted to be sick. He wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans and looked at the clock, he still had twenty minutes before he had to leave. Jack was so nervous he jumped a mile when his phone started ringing, he grabbed the device only to see Alex’s number on the screen.   
“Hello?” he answered.   
“Hmm hi Jack, I can’t make our date tonight. I’m sorry.”  
“Are you okay?” Jack asked, trying to hide the hurt in his voice.   
“Well I’m kind of in the ER right now…” Alex said.   
“Shit, what happened?”   
“Just a bit of an accident…”   
There was the sound of Alex grunting in pain and Jack bit his lip.   
“Is there anyone with you?” Jack asked.   
“No, my friend dropped me off but he couldn’t stay. So I’m on my own.”   
“Do you want some company?” Jack asked.   
Hospitals were never fun and being there alone could make things feel worse, Jack wanted to help and be at least some comfort to the boy who was obviously in pain.   
“Yeah, that be really nice actually. I’m at St Mary’s in the waiting room and I think I’ll be here for quite some time.”   
“Okay, I’ll be there soon.”  
“Thanks Jack.”  
He smiled and told the boy to sit tight which just caused Alex to laugh. They hung up and Jack was straight out to his car. Alex hadn’t said anything about what was wrong with him and Jack hoped it wasn’t anything too gross as he wasn’t the best with blood but he could probably stomach it. His parents were Doctors after all and he’d heard some pretty nasty stories over the years. 

Jack arrived at St Mary’s barely fifteen minutes later, the butterflies in his stomach hadn’t lessened as he drove and by the time he’d parked up he thought he might actually be sick again. It was still Alex and it was nervous about seeing him, he’d had such a crush on the boy for so long that just thinking him made his heart flutter.   
“Stop it Jack,” he muttered to himself.   
This wasn’t the time to be acting like a school girl, he was there to be of comfort and not to be an pathetic mess. Jack left his car and walked into the hospital, straight in front of him was the reception desk then to the right was the lines of chairs that was the waiting ‘room’ as such. Jack looked through the groups of people, trying to spot Alex. He found him sat in the corner, furthest away from anyone else and to Jack’s relief he didn’t look that injured, most of him still appeared to be in the right places.   
“Hi,” Jack said as he walked over.  
“Hey, thanks for coming,” Alex said, giving him a small smile.   
“No worries, are you alright?”   
“Yeah, yeah, I just fucked up my ankle a bit.”   
“What were you doing?” Jack asked.   
Alex blushed and tried to hide his face in his hands.   
“I fell… I tripped over my own feet and yeah…”   
Jack chuckled slightly and reached over to hold Alex’s hand, Alex smiled and ran his thumb over Jack’s hand.   
“If you want to feel better about yourself, I once tripped over my own feet, slammed into the floor, breaking my nose. All why in front of this guy I had a massive crush on, needless to say I didn’t speak to him after that.”   
Alex laughed and gave a small smile.   
“So we’re both accident prone,” he said.   
“Pretty much, well that’s something we’ve got to in common.”   
“I’m really sorry about our date though, I was super looking forward to it,” Alex apologized.  
“Me too, I hope it doesn’t take me so long to ask you out for a second time.”   
“It really took you that long?” Alex asked.   
“From the day I walked in, I thought you were gorgeous and I was trying to drum up the courage to talk to you.”   
Alex blushed and hid his face in his hand as Jack was still holding tightly onto the other.   
“You’re cute, you know that?” Jack said, running his thumb across Alex’s hand.   
“Thanks, you’re not so bad yourself.”   
They both laughed as Jack talked to Alex he found the nerves in his stomach disappearing, talking to Alex was just really easy and he found himself enjoying their time together, even in their unconventional setting.   
“I hope they’d hurry up, this really fucking hurts,” Alex said, wincing as he tried to shuffle in his seat.   
“These things always take forever, can I help at all?” Jack asked, putting his hand on Alex’s back.   
“Keep talking, it helps distract me,” Alex said, shuffling a little closer to Jack’s side.   
“Okay hmmm, what do you want me talk about?” Jack asked.   
“You, tell me things about you,” Alex replied.   
“Well… My favourite movie of all time is Home Alone, Blink 182 is the best band in the world and I really love pasta. I work in a bar downtown and I probably drink too much for it be actually called work. I share my apartment with one of my friends and I sing in the shower, no doubt really badly. I can’t cook at all and have been known to burn everything from pizza rolls to baked beans….”   
Alex laughed and ended up resting his head on Jack’s shoulder. Truth was he’d been staring at Jack for nearly as long as Jack had been staring at him. His adorable smile and dark hair that he was always playing with, Alex’s stomach had been full of butterflies all the same.   
“What else?” Alex asked.   
“My mum is from Lebanon and she’s the most overprotective person, she sometimes rings me up just to ask if I’ve brushed my teeth that day. I’ve seen all the James Bond movies so many times I’ve lost count, I love to travel and plan to see the rest of the world some day and I…”  
Jack stopped at the sound of someone clearing their throat, they both looked up to see a nurse standing in front of them.   
“Alex Gaskarth?” she asked.   
“Yeah that’s me.”   
“You can come through now.”  
“Okay, thanks,” Alex said.   
Jack stood up but Alex didn’t move.   
“Hmm, Jack could I have some help? I can’t really…”   
“Oh..”   
Jack helped Alex to stand up, he almost collapsed into Jack as he tried to walk. Alex end up leaning heavily on Jack as he hobbled along, barely able to put his left food on the floor. Jack’s arm was around his waist, keeping him steady and close to his side.   
“Hi, I’m Doctor Read, what seems to be the problem?”   
“Nothing, I walk like this for fun,” Alex said as Jack helped him onto the bed.   
“I can see that, can you tell me exactly what happened?” she asked.   
“I fell, there’s was a horrible pain in my ankle and I haven’t been able to walk since,” Alex explained.   
“Okay, let’s have a feel.”   
Dr.Read put down her clipboard and pulled her stool over to where Alex was sitting to get a proper look at his ankle.   
“I’m sorry, this may hurt a bit,” she said.   
Jack took Alex’s hand in case Alex needed someone to hold on to. The Doctor put her hands on Alex’s ankle and pressed, causing Alex to nearly call in pain.   
“It doesn’t feel broken, I think you’ve probably just badly sprained it,” she said.   
“That’s great,” Alex said, through gritted teeth.   
“I’ll get you something for the pain and wrap it up for you, to give some support. Then I’ll see about finding you some crutches.”  
“Thanks,” Alex said.   
Dr.Read left them alone in the exam room, Alex sighed with relief and laid back against the bed.   
“At least it isn’t broken,” Jack said.   
“Yeah, I was worried they’d have to knock me out to reset it or something and I really hate needles… Last time I went to the dentist I had to have gas and air before I let them anyway near me with one of those.”   
Jack laughed why Alex blushed again, his cheeks going pink for the third night time that night.   
“Can I hear about you now?” Jack asked, hopefully.   
“I guess… I work in a coffee shop to help pay for me to get through college. I’m studying English literature, because I find that shit interesting. I’m always late, no matter how early I get up something always gets in the way. I love dogs and go to pet everyone I see, I love movies and have a special place in my heart for Leo Dicaprio. I also sing in the shower and I have to say my Beyonce is really good and well I’m a bit of geek, I love superhero movies and all that.”  
“*cough*, am I interrupting something?”   
Dr.Read stood there holding verious medical items.   
“Sorry, we were just chatting,” Jack said.   
“Okay, well Mr Gaskarth if you could take this it’ll help with the pain and then we can get you fixed up and on your way.”   
“Thank you.”  
Alex took the small pills and swallowed them with a mouthful of water he was handed.   
“Now, this shouldn’t hurt as much but I need you stay as still as possible okay?” she asked.   
Alex nodded and gripped Jack’s hand a little tighter. The Doctor placed her hands on Alex foot, removing his shoe and sock. She carefully rolled up Alex’s jeans so she could wrap a bright blue bandage around his ankle. Jack had been seen his parents use such bandages before, they were for support more than mopping up blood. Once she’d finished she tapped it up with some pink medical tape.   
“You’ll need to keep your weight off that foot for a couple of weeks at least, what do you do?” she asked.   
“I work in a cafe,” Alex replied.   
“Well you should ask your manager if you could sit down during your shift, keep that foot up as much as possible. And it’s best to avoid wearing shoes or anything at least for the first week or two.”   
“Okay, thanks.”  
“I’ll just fetch you some crutches and your release papers then you’ll be free to go,” she said.  
“Thank you.”  
Dr.Read disapeared again and it was only then Alex realised he was still clinging rather tightly to Jack’s hand.   
“Oh sorry,” he said, loosening his grip.   
“It’s okay, did it hurt?” Jack asked.   
“Not really, the pain killers are kicking in now. Hmm Jack, could I ask you a favour?”   
“Of course.”   
“My friend dropped me off before he had to leave and I don’t think I can really take the bus like this so I wondering if you could give me a lift home?” Alex asked.   
“Sure I can, that’s no problem,” Jack said.   
“Oh thank you,” Alex smiled.   
“It’s no problem, I wasn’t going to leave you chasing after a bus on crunches. Well only if the date had ended badly,” Jack joked.   
“So you don’t think this ended badly?” Alex asked.   
“Unconventional setting maybe but I kind of enjoyed it,” Jack said with a smile.   
“You know what? Me too.”   
Dr.Read returned a moment later and helped Alex get moving on a pair of crunches. He was rather unstable and slow, she told Jack to keep an eye on him just in case. Alex scribbled his name on the release papers and finally they were free to go. 

It took them a good while to get back to Jack’s car. Alex was very slow as he leant to use the crunches, Jack was following closely behind to make sure he didn’t fall.   
“Why did you park so damn far away?” Alex asked.   
“I didn’t know I’d be taking an injured guy on crunches back to my car,” Jack laughed.   
“Please tell me it’s not much further,” Alex said.   
“See that red car?” Jack pointed at a little hatchback over the other side of the parking lot.   
Alex nodded.   
“On other side of that.”   
“Fuck!”   
“No, I’m kidding. It’s right here.”   
Jack went to a slightly beaten up looking blue car to their right and unlocked it.   
“You little shit,” Alex muttered as he hobbled over to the passenger seat.   
“Do you need a hand?” Jack asked.   
“No, I’m okay.”  
Alex just about managed to get himself to Jack’s car, crutches and all.   
“Alright?” Jack asked.   
“Yeah, yeah, just about.”  
Jack was about to begin driving in the direction of Alex’s college and dorm room when his stomach grumbled rather loudly.   
“Shit, I’m starving. I know it’s no nice Italian but how do you fancy picking some McDonalds on the way home?”   
“You know what? That’d be really good,” Alex replied.   
“Okay, but I think I should probably hit the drive thru.”  
Alex looked down at his bandaged ankle and agreed, he wouldn’t be moving anywhere quick for some time. 

After Jack had stopped and picked up their food, Alex had insisted to pay since he’d been the one that cost them their date in the first place. They took their unhealthy meal back to where Alex was living in an apartment down the road from his college campus.   
“There’s one thing I should probably mention…” Alex said as they stood at the bottom of a long flight of stairs.   
“I live on the fifth floor and the elevator doesn’t work.”   
“Well fuck,” Jack muttered.   
“Yeah… If you want to take your food and go that’s fine, ‘cause this is probably going to take a while.”   
“What kind of date would I be if I didn’t at least see you to your door?” Jack asked.   
Alex just smiled gratefully, he was glad Jack wasn’t leaving as he didn’t want the boy to go.   
“So, how exactly are we going to do this?” Jack asked.   
“I was thinking I’d try and hobble up and see where I went from there.”   
It took nearly ten minutes to get the first three steps and it taken a lot of effort and a whole lot of swear words on Alex’s part.   
“There’s got to be a better way to do this,” Jack argued.   
“If you have any suggestions I’m all ears,” Alex mumbled, nearly all his energy was gone and half of him just wanted to go to sleep on the stairs.   
“Put one arm around my shoulders and hold the crutches with the other, I’ll carry you.”   
“What? No. I can’t let you do that,” Alex protested.   
“Why not? You need to get up the stairs and it’s not happening like this.”  
“You’d really do that?” Alex asked.   
“Sure.”  
Alex smiled and did what Jack had told him to. He wrapped an arm around Jack’s shoulders and holding the crutches and food in the other hand Jack put his arms under him and lifted him up. It was still slow going but much faster than they had been and there was a lot less cursing and pain, for Alex at least, by the time they reached the third floor Jack was beginning to lose the feelings in his arms. Finally they made it to the top where Alex directed Jack over to his door where instead of Jack having the tricky task of trying to put him down without injuring him further, he got Alex to get out the key and open the door why still holding him. Alex managed to open the door and Jack carried him over to his couch where he was able to place the boy down gently  
“Thank god you don’t live on the eighth floor,” Jack panted, collapsing onto the couch beside Alex.   
“Thank you for this, I would’ve been a bit fucked on my own.”   
“No worries,” Jack said, still trying to catch his breath.   
“Here, let me get you some water,” Alex said, shuffling to try and get up.   
“No, Alex, I’m fine.”   
“You just carried me up five flights of stairs, I think I can get you a drink,” Alex said, pulling himself up on his crutches.   
He hobbled into his small kitchen and poured a glass of water, heavily leaning on the sink as he did. The pain killers may be working in full force but Alex still didn’t dare put his foot on the ground for fear of injuring himself further.   
With the glass held in his elbow Alex managed to get back to where Jack was setting out their now cold McDonalds on the coffee table.   
“I’m sorry it’s cold,” Alex said, giving Jack his drink.   
“It’s okay, I’ve had worse Italian,” Jack laughed.   
“Well I’m glad you think so, I on the other hand think cold fries are pretty gross…” Alex said, putting a few in his mouth.   
“For our second date I promise it’ll be better,” Jack said.   
“So there’s going to be a second date?” Alex asked.   
“If you want there to be…”   
“I just thought after such a disaster you wouldn’t want to…” Alex admitted.   
“Despite the odd setting and the cold food I actually had a really good time with you tonight, we had laugh and I feel like I got to talk to you and started to get to know you.”   
Alex smiled and reached over to grab Jack’s hand, he was thankful for Jack’s kindness and the fact he’d stayed close by and let him squeeze his hand to death.   
“I did too, I am sorry about fucking things up but I’ve never had a date like that before and I’ve never liked someone so much after one night.”  
“Me neither,” Jack replied.   
For the first time that night they both fell into silence, Jack wasn’t sure what the next move was. Did he say goodnight and go or stay with Alex, who was currently trying to stand up again.   
“Do you fancy watching a movie or something?” Alex asked, he knew it was getting late but he wasn’t ready for Jack to leave and hoped the other boy felt the same.   
“Sounds good, but I’ll get up, shall I?”   
Alex settled back down and let Jack go over to the tv and start looking around for a movie they could both watch.   
“You weren’t kidding about liking superheroes,” Jack said, flicking through various hero titles.   
“Yeah well… Have you seen Captain America’s ass?”   
Jack snorted a laugh and pulled out the first Cap film, deciding to see this for himself. He returned the couch, where he sat by Alex’s side and tried to think of a way to get his arm around the boy’s shoulders…   
“Man...These drugs really knock it out of you,” Alex said, resting his head on Jack’s shoulder.   
“Maybe I should carry you to bed.”  
“Not quite yet Jacky.”   
Jack chuckled and put his arm around Alex’s middle. 

“You’re right, that is a nice bit of ass,” Jack said but there was no reply.   
Alex had gone quiet a while ago and he realised that Alex had fallen asleep. He smiled and carefully got up from where the boy had been resting on his chest. Instead of risking picking Alex up again he took a blanket from the back of the couch and laid it over Alex’s sleeping body.   
“Sleep well.”  
Jack leant down and kissed the top of Alex’s head. It wasn’t exactly how he’d imagined their first kiss or their first date but one thing was for sure, he really did like Alex and there’d be many dates to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys,   
> It's not a sickfic I know but I saw the prompt on tumblr and well I couldn't resist. I just love hurt/comfort in general! I hope you liked it :) xx  
> Also high five to anyone who knows who Dr.Read is :')


End file.
